Franco Colapinto had no idea he would become an F1 points scorer in 2024. All he was focusing on was giving his best in F2 when Williams decided to part ways with Logan Sargeant, whose crashes became too difficult for the Grove-based outfit to handle, both financially and in terms of lack of race results. Colapinto came in as a breath of fresh air, taking the grid by storm. That hype, however, has effectively died down.
Colapinto made his debut at the Italian GP, and just one race later, scored points in Azerbaijan, finishing P8. After narrowly missing out on the top 10 in Singapore, Colapinto added another point to his tally in Austin, where his true popularity was on display.
Thousands of Argentine fans had flown over to Texas to support the Williams driver, and he became a hot topic of discussion while discussing the 2025 grid. Colapinto could never get a seat for the upcoming campaign at Williams, who had already roped in Carlos Sainz to partner up with Alex Albon.
However, there were other suitors interested, with Red Bull being the biggest name. The Milton-Keynes-based team, reportedly on the hunt for Sergio Perez’s replacement and even a driver for its sister team RB, became favorites to land Colapinto’s signature.
Team Principal Christian Horner was also spotted at the Williams motorhome in Sao Paolo. Ironically, it was that weekend that sort of saw Colapinto’s reputation take a hit.
The 21-year-old crashed two times in one weekend — two huge ones. His FW46 was almost deemed irreparable after his Qualifying shunt, but the Williams mechanics made sure to get him out there in time for the Grand Prix. Then, in the race, he suffered a huge crash again.
Dwindling interest in Colapinto
After Sao Paolo, many started wondering if Colapinto was truly ready for F1. Yes, he performed well in the beginning, but he started suffering more crashes and incidents. Notably, right after Brazil, he had suffered a fairly big incident in Las Vegas, which had also put his participation under doubt.
Around this time, rumors linking him to Red Bull started fading away. The Austrian squad was likely looking for a driver who would be a consistent wingman to four-time World Champion Max Verstappen and it was clear that Colapinto would need a lot of grooming.
Absolutely gutted
Williams’ mechanics react as Colapinto crashes out of qualifying #F1 #LasVegasGP pic.twitter.com/tYcpXqUvwv
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 23, 2024
It wasn’t Red Bull’s job to do that, and why would it be? They have their driver academy to focus on, and two stars from there—Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda—were already on the grid.
If they had to gamble, they would rather just pick one of them up because, despite their shortcomings, they had more experience. On top of that, Lawson’s $20 million release clause could have been deemed too expensive to activate by the Red Bull bosses.
Better F2 alternatives?
Colapinto is a talented driver, yes, but Red Bull’s priority has always been promoting its own drivers, be it for RB or themselves. In F2, there is a prospect touted for big things. Isack Hadjar has been right in the Championship picture throughout 2024, with just 0.5 points separating him from leader Gabriel Bortoleto—who is joining Sauber in 2025.
Hadjar may not win the title, but in no way would that diminish his talent or reputation. Red Bull could choose to bring him to F1 through RB and groom him before promoting him to a spot alongside Verstappen. After all, Red Bull promoted Tsunoda to F1 in 2021 despite the Japanese driver not winning the F2 crown.
However, it is fair to point out that Hadjar’s only F1 experience to date did not go according to plan. He drove in FP1 in Silverstone earlier this year and ended up with a penalty for impeding McLaren’s Lando Norris.
